Post orders: how to write them

The contract says what the client is buying. Post orders say how it is delivered in practice, on one particular site. Without them, the service depends on each guard’s memory.

• Consistency: the Sunday relief guard does the same as the regular one.
• Fast onboarding: a new guard learns the post from a document, not from hearsay.
• Accountability: the client and the supervisor have something concrete to check against.

• Duties: what the guard does, written as verbs: “checks”, “records”, “informs”. Not “ensures security”.
• Hours: the post’s hours, when handover happens and what is handed over (keys, equipment, open issues).
• Access rules: who gets in, where, with what proof; how visitors, suppliers and vehicles are logged.
• Patrol route: checkpoints, order and frequency, with a floor plan if there is one.
• Emergencies: fire, medical incident, break-in, power cut, evacuation — consistent with the building’s own emergency plan.
• Contacts: supervisor, operations team, client contact, maintenance, emergency services.
• Escalation: who is told, in what order, and how quickly.
• Reporting: what gets written each shift and for each incident, and where.
• Prohibited actions: what the guard never does at this post.
• Version control: version number, date, who approved it, what changed.

1. Document details: post, site, version number, effective date, approval signatures.
2. Site description: entrances, critical points, opening hours, floor plan.
3. Hours and handover: times, handover checklist.
4. Duties by time: what happens at the start, during and at the end of the shift.
5. Access control: rules for staff, visitors, suppliers, vehicles.
6. Patrols: route, checkpoints, frequency.
7. Emergency procedures: a short step-by-step per scenario.
8. Contacts: names, roles, phone numbers, hours of availability.
9. Escalation: who, in what order, how quickly.
10. Reporting: what, when and where it is recorded.
11. Prohibited actions.
12. Change history and a read-and-signed record for every guard.

Write for the guard who will read them at 3 a.m.: short sentences, one step per line, no generalities.

Where an instruction involves a person — a suspect, an aggressive visitor, a theft — write what the guard observes, records and whom they inform, and when the competent authorities are called. If the client asks for more, the security provider must confirm it is lawful before it is written in.

• CCTV: if the post watches cameras, the Hellenic Data Protection Authority notes that CCTV may not be used to monitor or evaluate employees (article 27, Law 4624/2019).
• Retention: Directive 1/2011 requires footage to be deleted within 15 working days at most if no incident occurs (article 8). Post orders must follow this, not work around it.
• Signs: clearly visible signs before the camera range (article 12) — the guard can check they stay in place.

• Client: the site manager confirms access rules, hours, contacts and priorities.
• Security provider: the supervisor or operations manager confirms the orders can be carried out with the agreed staff and hours, and that they stay within the law.
• Guards: every guard who covers the post signs that they have read the current version.

Ask for the post orders to be referenced in the contract. See questions to ask a security company before signing.

• Triggers: new entrances or hours, changed contacts, works, new equipment, an incident that exposed a gap.
• Version: a new number, an effective date and a short note of what changed.
• Withdrawal: old versions are removed from the post so only one is in force.
• Briefing: the supervisor explains the change to the guards and collects new read-and-signed records.